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From: Rod-Lists
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Now if we could just marry this to those air lithium batteries.
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After five years of research, students at the University of Middle Tennessee have installed a full plug-in hybrid kit in a stock 1994 Honda Accord. The setup gives between 50 and 100 percent better gas mileage with two electric motors delivering power directly to the rear wheels, leaving the engine-powered front wheels to work with little effort. The price of all the parts comes to about $3,000 and can be applied to almost any car.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/08/hybrid-conversion/

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From: Dan Lyke
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So, semi-related to this...
Charlene and I recently built a sailboat. We love our little sailboat,
but it's a bit too small to take friends out on. So on our "3 years
out" list (because that's the next time boat registrations and our
build schedule come out even), we're thinking about building a bigger
one.
Petaluma is on the Petaluma River, a narrow tidal slough at the top
end of San Francisco Bay. We currently put the boat in the water at a
marina several miles downwind from downtown, spend a few hours tacking
up into town. Tie the boat up at the municipal pier, hang out and be
downtown, and then spend a couple of minutes running downwind back to
the ramp. We'd really like to go the other way, but that kinda says we
need a little help getting back up-wind.
And sailboats do well with a little weight in the bottom of the hold.
Lead-acid batteries are heavy. We like the quiet of the sailboat.
So I'm starting to think about an electric inboard. Doesn't need to be
much because we don't need to push the boat faster than hull speed. I
haven't tried to run full numbers on any candidate hulls yet, but I'm
guessing that 60 lbs of thrust would be the top edge of what we want.
Again, this is all a few years out, but if anyone's got ideas for
coming up with some multiple-of-12-volt controller and (brushless?)
motor system on the cheap in the 2-4HP range...
Dan

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From: Jason Brown
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On the cheap is tough.
Here is a combo motor and control system that has been used on robot
weapons in the past:
http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/EMS-PMACBL275.html
You might gather more information there to help you in your search. I've
learned a lot in the last 10 minutes searching for "sailboat electric
motors"
--Jason

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From: Mike Harrison
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The bass boat crowd have it all pre-built.. just not cheap.

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From: Dan Lyke
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Indeed. There are some kick-ass ready-made outboards and integrated
prop-motor assemblies, but put "Marine" on anything and it's a
dead-heat with "Aircraft" for price, and if I'm gonna build the bloody
hull myself anyway...
The one Jason pointed me towards is probably more powerful than I
need, and I was kinda thinking "oooh, I can get a used golf cart motor
for $300 shipped", but sometimes it's also nice to not be fighting
worn-out bearings and whatnot.
Dan